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Worst trades of the past decade

Today's atrocity got me thinking, what trades (if any) in recent times, have been worse for a franchise than the one the Magic made (barring league intervention) today? *Sign and trades do not count*

I mean, the Magic had decent packages on the table for Howard, and reportedly, they have taken one involving an average, overpaid guard in Arron Afflalo, 2 unproven players in Harkless and Vucevic, an over-the-hill veteran in Harrington, and three 'protected' picks, from teams that will not be in the lottery for the foreseeable future; add this to the fact they were unable to even get Turkoglu and Duhon's contracts of the books, and you have a one hell of a bad trade..

The Magic had aimed to obtain the following:
1. Cap Space:Failure. They still have the ludicrous contracts of Duhon & Turkoglu (and the newly signed; equally ludicrous deal of Nelson's, worth about $27 million over three years), and the unfavourable contracts of Quentin Richardson & Big Baby on the books. Plus, they just acquired Afflalo, and the 4 years (approximately $35 million) left on his contract

2. Talented young players:Failure. Harkless and Vucevic are largely unproven, and whilst they have potential, they will likely not surpass the level of role-players in this league (especially Vucevic)

3. Lottery picksWash. The Magic chose to deal with three strong teams, and acquired a protected first-rounder from each. The catch? If these are protected so that the Magic may only acquire them if they are lottery picks, they may not be utilised for several years, as the Nuggets, Sixers, and Lakers figure to be playoff mainstays in their respective conferences for years to come.

From this trade, and the other moves made by Hennigan over the summer (letting Anderson go, signing Nelson to a three year, $27 million deal) it looks as if we may be seeing the second coming of Otis Smith in Central Florida... (Ok, maybe that's too far)

I'm interested to see people's opinions about this trade in particular, and whether other trades made in recent memory have been as lopsided as this one seems to be.

Good breakdown man. I completely agree. I can't believe they weren't at least able to shred some of their bad contracts. It's pretty sad to see how such a terrible team has nothing on their roster to build around. Their future looks bleak. Denver provided the blueprint on how to trade a superstar. Orlando could have emulated such a model through taking the Houston deal.

"I'm not going to allow my putative owner to answer that question, this is an NBA related press conference. Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell have collectively sung their praises of Tom and if uh ESPN has a problem with that tell Mr. Skipper to call me at my office."

Denver provided the blueprint on how to trade a superstar. Orlando could have emulated such a model through taking the Houston deal.

Denver may have provided the blueprint, but we refined it. Trade CP for the best young SG in the league, cap space, and a draft pick + a young player. Then, "misdiagnose" best player's injury which causes him to sit out most of the season allowing your team to lose most of its games in order to get the #1 overall pick in the draft and, with said pick, select a prospect whose name can be mentioned with the likes of Tim Duncan, Marcus Camby, and Kevin Garnett.

to be honest, as great as we are now, had Gordon played in even half the games this year, I doubt we're going to get Davis. Not quite sure if you can really give Demps credit for "misdiagnosing" or not, but I'm sure Gordon was still going to miss a substantial amount of time. Demps did a great job after nearly murdering us with the LA trade, and our future looks incredible now, but we definitely had a few lucky breaks, from injuries (not just Gordon) to getting the top pick.

Denver looks great now though. A starting line up of Lawson/Iggy/Gallo/Faried/McGee and a bench of Miller/Fournier/Brewer/Chandler/Mozgov.

Really solid all around and still very young. Doubt they'll ever be a legitimate contender, but they should be a lock for the playoffs for the next few years and win over 50 games.

It's obvious the Magic weren't looking for Capspace as all the assets they've acquired confirmed this. Orlando not taking Bynum or even Iggy suggest that they aren't looking to take talent back. Getting picks back from playoff caliber teams suggest they want quantity.

I'm not sure what the Magic front office is doing here. The players they received in the trade suggest that they wanted to acquire those players. Signing Nelson suggest that they aren't trying to rebuild.

So they essentially have a line up of: Nelson, Afflalo, Turkoglu, Harrington, and Davis. And backups: Duhon, Riddick, Harkless, Nicholson, and Vucevic.

That is one ugly team. No idea what Orlando is doing but they sure aren't rebuilding.

Denver provided the blueprint on how to trade a superstar. Orlando could have emulated such a model through taking the Houston deal.

You can also add Utah to that. The key is to find a team desperate enough to give up a lot of assets. The Magic had their shots when Houston made it known that they will do whatever it takes to land Howard.

You can also add Utah to that. The key is to find a team desperate enough to give up a lot of assets. The Magic had their shots when Houston made it known that they will do whatever it takes to land Howard.

Magic were dumb to try to convince Dwight to stay another year. If I'm not mistaken, had they traded him at last years deadline the Magic could have gotten Lopez (Not on a max contract), Marshon Brooks, and a first that ended up being the 6th in the draft last year, and Nets could have taken back a bad contract. Not a great deal by any means, but a lot better than this trade. But instead they said "Hey Dwight took his player option, we've got another year to try to convince him to stay!"

We were lucky to have got out fairly early in the drama and get a great package back. Let us give thanks for that.

Houston's final offer was $12 million in immediate cap space instead of Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington, several of their recent first round selections, along with future lottery and unprotected draft picks.

The Rockets were unwilling to take back any bad contracts in return while dealing for Howard.

The final offer Brooklyn put on the table for Orlando would have been Lopez, Kris Humphries at one-year, $9.6 million, MarShon Brooks and four unprotected first round picks for Howard, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark.

I know the Lakers got a great deal by not having to give up Gasol, but did they really improve that much? Is Howard that much of an improvement over Bynum?

Howard's impact on D is not to be overlooked. He turned a team with Hedo Turk. and old Jason Richardson as their wing defenders into a upper class defensive team. While Howard and Bynum are close offensively, Dwight is a definite upgrade over him.

I know the Lakers got a great deal by not having to give up Gasol, but did they really improve that much? Is Howard that much of an improvement over Bynum?

It's an improvement for this year but this really was about the post Kobe future for the Lakers. The Knicks proved that just because you get cap space doesn't mean the stars will come. If they can resign Howard the Lakers will have a star to attract other stars in 2014-15 when Gasol and Kobe come off the books.